The collection introduced in this book is an impressive tribute to the efforts of many individuals.

Apart from present staff, Dr Piriya Krairiksh, Ruth McNicoll, Wally Caruana, Darryl Collins and members of the Southeast Asian Textile Committee (James Mollison, the late Professor Anthony Forge, Professor Jim Fox, John Maxwell and Robyn Maxwell) deserve special mention for the initial development of the collection prior to the formation of a separate Department of Asian Art in 1988. The National Gallery's two Directors, Betty Churcher and, before her, James Mollison, also deserve special praise for supporting significant acquisitions of Asian art.

The art traditions of Asia are an essential part of world culture. They are living traditions that reflect a complex history played out over a huge continent. Never entirely isolated, some of these traditions display close ties with the art of the Mediterranean world to the west while others can be linked formally and conceptually with the art of the Pacific islands to the south-east. In all cases, however, the art forms of Asia are firmly rooted in local and regional histories, and cross-fertilisation within Asia has always been of greater importance than influences from outside. The art of Asia reflects cultural practices as varied as they are sophisticated. Some, for example, used the human form as the primary vehicle of visual communication while others were largely iconoclastic in their philosophy and developed the most sophisticated calligraphy the world has known. In twentieth century Asia, new modes of visual communication and new critical frameworks have entered into a vigorous dialogue with the art historical past.